In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash.

Emily Dufton holds a PhD in American Studies from George Washington University. Her new book is "Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America." In it, she tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work.

Voters in Massachusetts support legalizing marijuana and expanding the number of charter schools in the state, according to a new poll by Western New England University. Both issues are likely to appear on the November ballot in Massachusetts.

A special committee of the state Senate today released a list of recommendations for lawmakers to consider should Massachusetts voters later this year approve a referendum legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Wednesday marked the final day for ballot initiatives to be filed with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. The submissions reveal a struggle over the best way to legalize recreational marijuana.

The legalization of marijuana is the next great reversal of history. Perhaps the most demonized substance in America, scientifically known as Cannabis sativa, simply a very fast growing herb, thrived underground as the nation's most popular illegal drug.

Now the tide has shifted: In 1996 California passed the nation's first medical marijuana law, which allowed patients to grow it and use it with a doctor's permission. By 2010, twenty states and the District of Columbia had adopted medical pot laws. In 2012 Colorado and Washington state passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana for adults age 21 and older.

Bruce Barcott, a former Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction, is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, the Atlantic Monthly, Outside magazine, and many other publications. His book is Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.

Laws regarding the sale and use of marijuana vary across the country. The issue of the drug’s use among teens was the topic of a talk in Lenox, Massachusetts Wednesday.

While Colorado and Washington allow the recreational use of marijuana and states like Massachusetts have legalized the drug for medicinal purposes, the federal government considers it a Schedule I drug. That puts it in the same category as drugs like heroin. The legal uncertainty creates confusion for teens according to a countywide study cited by Lenox Public Schools superintendent Edward Costa.

When it comes to legalizing marijuana, things are moving quickly, especially in New York.

Last Friday, the federal government released guidelines for banks to conduct business with the $1.5-billion-a-year legal marijuana industry. Medical marijuana is now legal in 20 states, and legislation is pending in 13 others. The green signal may have been sent in January when President Barack Obama told The New Yorker that marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol, opening the door for debate.

College of Saint Rose alumna Alyson Martin and Nushin Rashidian, investigative journalists and authors of a groundbreaking book on the movement toward legalization of marijuana, will read from their new book, A New Leaf: The End of Cannabis Prohibition, as part of the 2014 Frequency North writers series at The College of Saint Rose on Thursday February 6th.

In November 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington passed landmark measures to legalize the production and sale of cannabis for social use—a first not only in the United States but also the world. Medical cannabis is now legal in twenty states and Washington, D.C., and more than one million Americans have turned to it in place of conventional pharmaceuticals.

Yet the federal government refuses to acknowledge these broader societal shifts and continues to raid and arrest people: 49.5 percent of all drug-related arrests involve the sale, manufacture, or possession of cannabis.

A bill that would legalize recreational marijuana in New York State was introduced last week. The measure would regulate the sale of pot and tax it, treating it similarly to alcohol. Proponents are cautiously optimistic that the governor might see the plan in a favorable light.

Public hearings on the future regulation of medical marijuana in Massachusetts will be held this month, but as a deadline approaches, some are concerned that the state’s final regulations may come later than expected.

Beginning Wednesday evening, state officials from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health will hold a series of public listening sessions before the implementation of medical marijuana regulations.

Voters in the Vermont city of Burlington will be asked in November whether they would support legalizing and taxing marijuana.

The Burlington City Council on Monday approved several measures for the November ballot, including the pot question.

WCAX-TV reports that voters also will be asked whether they support a $9 million bond to help boost the city's credit rating and a half-cent increase in the property tax to help pay for rehabilitating the bike path.